sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to World UFO Day!
World UFO Day is dedicated to the existence of unidentified flying objects. First celebrated in 2001, it was created by the World UFO Day Organization. The day is often celebrated on June 24 and July 2, although The World UFO Day Organization declared July 2 to be the official day. June 24 marks the anniversary of one of the first UFO sightings in the United States, when Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine high-speed crescent-shaped objects near Mt. Rainier in Washington, in 1947. July 2 marks the anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident, which also happened in 1947.
The creators of the day claim the day exists to "raise awareness about the undoubted existence of UFO's and with that intelligent beings from outer space" and that the day exists to "encourage governments to unclassify their knowledge about sightings throughout the history"—as they believe that the US government has exclusive information about UFOs. The creators also said, "the most important thing is that people collectively open their minds to the subject for one day and send out the message mentally that UFOs are welcome on this earth." On a less serious note, the day is for talking with friends about UFOs, watching movies about UFOs, attending conferences about UFOs, having parties with UFO themes, and gazing up into the sky looking for UFOs.
SU News
In 1963, Syracuse coach Fred Lewis posed with Dave Bing (left), who was one of Lewis' first high school recruits; and Chuck Richards (right), who transferred from Army. Richards passed away on Sunday at the age of 85.
Former SU basketball teammate of Bing and Boeheim dies at 82 (PS; $; Waters)
When Fred Lewis became the head basketball coach at Syracuse University in 1962, he recruited a freshman class that would soon turnaround the nation’s worst program.
The group included a pair of future Hall of Famers in Dave Bing and Jim Boeheim.
But Lewis also brought in a transferr from Army by the name of Chuck Richards.
In his one varsity season at West Point, Richards, a 6-foot-9 center, had averaged 15 points and 9.4 rebounds.
“We got to know him because he practiced with us freshmen,’’ Bing said. “As we became sophomores and could play varsity, we knew we had a legitimate big man who would be with us. We knew we were going to turn the program around.’’
Bing was right. Richards would average 18.4 points and 9.1 rebounds in his two years at Syracuse. The Orangemen earned an NIT bid in 1964 and went 30-18 in Richards’ two seasons.
Richards, 82, died on Sunday. He had been living in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife, Carol.
“He was one of those rare guys who got along with everybody,’’ Boeheim said of his former teammate. “He was friendly with everybody. Nobody didn’t like Chuck.’’
Richards was a native of Poland, New York. He attended the Manlius Military Academy, located just outside of Syracuse. He spent two years at the U.S. Military Academy before transferring to Syracuse.
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Examining Boeheim’s Army’s future and next year’s Orange: ‘He’s a guy Syracuse hasn’t had’ (podcast) (PS; $; podcast; Syracuse Orange)
Donna Ditota, Syracuse.com’s basketball reporter, dropped by the “Inside Syracuse Basketball” podcast to discuss Syracuse players both past and present.
In a conversation with her Syracuse.com colleague Mike Waters, Ditota offered her thoughts on why Boeheim’s Army was not able to organize as a team for this year’s The Basketball Tournament.
And the two reporters also traded opinions on which player on Syracuse’s 2024-25 roster they’re most eager to see next season. (Ditota’s puppy, Reilly, also makes a brief on-screen appearance.)
Ditota, who has covered Boeheim’s Army since its inception in 2015, reported last week that there would be no Boeheim’s Army entry in the TBT this year.
“Getting commitments this year was really tough, so they had to say, ‘Well, not this year,’ ” Ditota said of her conversations with Boeheim’s Army general manager Shaun Belbey. “They just couldn’t get enough core guys.’’
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Which SU basketball player are you most eager to see in 2024-25 season? (Mike’s Mailbox) (PS; $; Waters)
A lot of times, Mike’s Mailbox will have a general theme. A subject will pop up and basically take over the Mailbox for a week or two.
But, usually, the Mailbox gets questions on a variety of topics and that’s true this week.
So whatever subject is of special interest to you, please don’t hesitate to send your question to me.
Let’s get going with this week’s questions.
(If you have a question for the Mailbox, email it to mwaters@syracuse.com.
Q: Which player on the present 2024-25 roster are you most eager to see play?
Gerry C.
Mike: I think Syracuse’s roster consists of several really intriguing players.
I can’t wait to see what Chris Bell can do after a sophomore season in which he averaged 12.0 points per game and also made 42% of his 3-pointers.
Freshman forward Donavan Freeman comes in after earning McDonald’s All-America honors at IMG Academy. How big of an impact can he have?
Of the four transfers, everybody’s eager to see what Eddie Lampkin, the 6-foot-11, 265-pound center from Colorado, can do. Can he give Syracuse the low-post presence that it lacked last season?
But, for me anyway, there’s another player who I am most eager to see play and that’s Chance Westry.
Westry, a 6-foot-6 guard, transferred to Syracuse last year, but didn’t play at all during the 2023-24 season after suffering a knee injury in the preseason. The injury was most unfortunate considering that Westry had missed the second half of the 2022-23 season at Auburn also due to a knee injury.
Westry is intriguing in that he was a standout recruit. On3.com ranked him at No. 37 in the 2022 recruiting class.
Syracuse had been interested in him as early as his freshman year at high school at Harrisburg’s Trinity High School, but the school’s involvement waned when Westry transferred to Compass Prep in Arizona.
I believe that Westry is the Orange’s wildcard this year. If he can regain his old form after recovering from two knee injuries, he would really solidify Syracuse’s backcourt situation.
Q: It doesn’t look like Donavan Freeman is on the roster for the Bahamas National Team as he mentioned on your podcast. Any insight? The team actually looks loaded. Did he get bumped?
Adam G.
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Despite GMac leaving, Syracuse basketball remains in pursuit of 4-star big Matt Gilhool (itlh; Adler)
Matt Gilhool, the 2025 four-star big man from the Philadelphia area, says that he continues to hear from the Syracuse basketball staff.
Earlier this spring, the 6-foot-10 power forward/center said in an article published on inquirer.com that his recruiting process had become "wide open."
Part of that had to due with former Orange associate head coach Gerry McNamara becoming the head coach at Siena, and former long-time 'Cuse assistant Mike Hopkins being let go as the head coach at Washington.
In that inquirer.com story, Gilhool had said his top three college suitors at the time were Syracuse basketball, Washington and Penn State.
However, in a recent post on X, 247Sports national analyst/scout Brandon Jenkins noted that these days, Gilhool is hearing the most from the Orange, Alabama, Michigan and Penn State. Per posts on his X page, Gilhool has picked up newer scholarship offers from Georgia, Georgia Tech and LSU.
Syracuse basketball remains in contact with 2025 four-star big man Matt Gilhool.
McNamara, according to media reports, had served as the lead 'Cuse recruiter for Gilhool. It's unclear to me which member of the Orange staff now serves in that role. Throughout his recruitment, Gilhool has landed more than 20 offers, per recruiting Web sites and social media posts.
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Why is the NCAA Tournament EXPANDING? - How it Impacts Syracuse Basketball | Syracuse Orange Podcast (youtube; podcast; Locked on Syracuse)
The NCAA Tournament will inevitably expand. NCAA officials met on Wednesday to discuss a 72 and even a 76 team bracket as early as 2025-26. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark says its to get all the best teams in. However, this is a classic money grab that leagues like MLB, NBA, and NFL have done. Syracuse Basketball is impacted because it'll have even less of an excuse to miss the field, avoiding the bubble will be critical, and the NIT probably goes away. Jackson Holzer discusses tournament expansion on this edition of the Locked On Syracuse Podcast.
Noah Eagle of NBC Sports on calling Olympic basketball and the importance of doing everything (youtube; podcast; Axe)
Noah Eagle of NBC Sports, a recent Sports Emmy winner and one of the best young talents in broadcasting, joins Brent Axe on the latest episode of Syracuse Sports.Eagle and Axe discuss Noah's upcoming assignment as the voice of men's and women's basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympic games. Eagle goes over the makeup of each roster, including the discussion surrounding Caitlin Clark and if she was "snubbed" off the women's team. Eagle also tells Axe about the teams that he believes will push Team USA the hardest to content for the gold medal.They also discuss Eagle's broadcasting journey since graduating from Syracuse that has included calling the Super Bowl with SpongeBob, NFL Playoff games, Big Ten Football on NBC, being the voice of the Los Angeles Clippers and Brooklyn Nets and how important it was to try everything at Syracuse in order to land on doing the THE thing you want to do.
Rumored NCAA Rule Change Could Open Doors For Exciting SU Matchups (orangefizz.net; Papillo)
Summer is here, which means we’re one step closer to the return of Syracuse men’s basketball. There’s a lot of buzz around Adrian Autry and his upcoming sophomore season, but making headlines recently is a rule change possibly being made by the NCAA.
Essentially, the NCAA is proposing an idea to allow programs to venture off their home campuses and play some scrimmages before the season begins. This may sound like a normal thing, but this could allow for some really exciting matchups for the Orange.
Last season, Syracuse hosted intrasquad scrimmages in Rochester for both its men’s and women’s teams in hopes of drawing some fans to the Dome from Western New York. Now with the ability to hold events more than once, the Orange could travel to other untapped areas of New York State where a lot of SU fans aren’t able to see the team. Some strong candidates could be the Capital Region or even New York City. Only time will tell.
Now when it comes to the exhibitions, there’s an opponent that makes too much sense to not pay a visit to. With the ability to hold games against D1 opponents, why shouldn’t the ‘Cuse travel east to Siena and take on former assistant Gerry McNamara? Not only would SU fans be hyped for the matchup, but bringing the Orange to the Capital Region where many fans are located would draw a lot of attention in the region and should sell tickets (which the rule change allows programs to profit from), so why not?
One more that would be fun could be a matchup with one of the NCAA’s newest Division 1 programs: the Le Moyne Dolphins. They’re in the same city, so why not brew some civil war in local homes between alumni of each school? No matter where this game would be played (probably in the Dome,) a battle between two schools in the 315 sounds too good to pass up.
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Former Syracuse basketball player Josh Pace leaves D-II head coaching post for assistant coaching job at D-I school (PS; Waters)
Josh Pace, a key member of Syracuse’s 2003 NCAA championship team, is leaving his job as the head coach of a women’s team at a Division II school to take an assistant coaching position at the D-I level.
Pace, who played at SU from 2001 to 2005, has been the women’s coach at Western New Mexico University for the past four years. On Thursday, Pace announced his resignation.
A release on the school’s web-page indicated that Pace was leaving to become an assistant coach at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.
Pace will join former Syracuse assistant DeLisha Milton-Jones at Old Dominion. Milton-Jones was an assistant at Syracuse for the 2019-20 season before leaving to become the head coach at ODU.
Prior to coming to Syracuse, Milton-Jones had been the head coach at Pepperdine for two years. Pace was an assistant on the Pepperdine staff for Milton-Jones’ tenure there.
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https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/news/top-stories/syracuse-coaches-tour-coming-to-binghamton/ (binghamtonhomepage.com; Rich)
Syracuse University coaches are spreading Orange spirit across Upstate New York, stopping in Binghamton along the way.
SU athletics recently announced the 2024 Coaches Caravan. The Coaches Caravan will stop through various parts of the state, giving fans an inside scoop on the upcoming athletic seasons.
The Coaches Caravan will feature appearances from head coaches, Athletic Department leadership, and Otto the Orange. Featured coaches include Head Football Coach Fran Brown, Head Women’s Basketball Coach Felisha Legette-Jack and Head Man’s Basketball Coach Adrian Autry. There will also be guest Olympic sport head coaches in attendance.
The Coaches Caravan is coming to Binghamton on July 10. From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., those in attendance will be able to enjoy a program hosted by the Voice of the Orange, Matt Park. There will also be special giveaways and photo opportunities with Otto the Orange. The event will be held at Farm by Beer Tree, located at 197 Route 369 in Port Crane.
Entry to the Coaches Caravan is free. To register, click here.
The tour will also be stopping in Rochester, Verona, and Syracuse.
Other
Lainey Wilson performs on the Suburban Park stage on opening day of the New York State Fair, Geddes, N.Y., Wednesday, August 23, 2023. Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com
https://www.syracuse.com/entertainm...-as-a-country-superstar-concert-set-list.html (PS; $; Herbert)
Two years ago, Lainey Wilson was opening for Morgan Wallen at the Syracuse amphitheater.
On Friday night, she returned to the Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview as a bona fide country superstar. It was her fourth time performing in Central New York in the past two years, and her first concert in the area since drawing a record crowd of 53,200 fans to the New York State Fair last year.
A packed audience at the Empower FCU Amphitheater heard Wilson perform her biggest hits, including “Things a Man Oughta Know,” “Heart Like a Truck,” “Watermelon Moonshine,” “Save Me” (her collaboration with Jelly Roll) and “Wait in the Truck” (her collaboration with Hardy). She also shared new songs from her upcoming album, “Whirlwind,” like “Hang Tight Honey,” and “Country’s Cool Again.”
Wilson, a Louisiana native who started out performing as a Hannah Montana impersonator, has earned her career every step of the way. The 32-year-old singer moved to Nashville in 2011 and struggled for years, but she has quickly become country music’s “it girl.” She was named ACM New Female of the Year and CMT’s “Breakout Artist of the Year” in 2022, as well as Billboard’s “Top New Country Artist of 2021″; appeared on Kevin Costner’s hit TV series “Yellowstone” as Abby; and toured with artists like Jason Aldean and Wallen.
She’s continued that momentum, winning Best Female Artist at the 2023 ACM Awards and five trophies at the 2023 CMA Awards, including becoming the first female to win the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year since Taylor Swift in 2009. Wilson also won her first Grammy Award in February, taking home Best Country Album for “Bell Bottom Country.”
The concert also included opening acts Zach Top (featuring Syracuse native Nate Felty on drums) and Ian Munsick.
Did you attend the concert and take photos? Send your pictures to gherbert@syracuse.com.
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Lainey Wilson concert set list
June 21, 2024, at Empower FCU Amphitheater, Syracuse, N.Y.
Hang Tight Honey
Straight Up Sideways
Dirty Looks
Good Horses Always Come Home
Things a Man Oughta Know
Dreamcatcher
Heart Like a Truck
Bell Bottoms Up
Atta Girl
Watermelon Moonshine
Country Medley (including “Hey Good Lookin’” and “Whatever and Ever Amen”)
Country’s Cool Again
Never Say Never / Wait in the Truck / Save Me
Four by Four by You
Wildflowers and Wild Horses
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